Rajasthan Royals will look to turn their fortunes around in the ongoing edition of the Indian Premier League (IPL) when they host Kolkata Knight Riders at the Sawai Man Singh Stadium in Jaipur on Sunday.

Rajasthan are languishing at seventh place on the IPL table, having won just one out of their four matches so far. On the other hand, Kolkata have won three out of four possible matches and are placed at the third spot.

Rajasthan’s opening slots are guarded by skipper Ajinkya Rahane and Jos Buttler and the duo have been in good nick thus far. Rahane and Buttler have been crucial in giving starts to Rajasthan and are automatic starters in every match for them.

Sanju Samson is likely to return for this clash after missing the last match due to injury. Samson became the first batsman to score a century this season and he will look to build on that. Samson is likely to be included in place of Stuart Binny.

Steven Smith scored 38 against Royal Challengers Bangalore but he is yet to fire for Rajasthan on a consistent basis. All-rounder Ben Stokes and Jofra Archer will be joined by Shreyas Gopal in the middle order, who spun a web around RCB and fire them to victory.

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Dhawal Kulkarni and Varun Aaron are set to retain their respective places in the squad as out-of-form Jaydev Unadkat is likely to warm the bench again.

Predicted XI: Ajinkya Rahane(c), Jos Buttler(w), Sanju Samson, Rahul Tripathi, Steven Smith, Ben Stokes, Krishnappa Gowtham, Jofra Archer, Shreyas Gopal, Dhawal Kulkarni, Varun Aaron

First Published: Apr 07, 2019 12:56 IST